


Rich Set a Fire: Before and After

by littlebigtec12



Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz
Genre: Burns, Everyone else is either mentioned or has a tiny part, Fire, Hospitals, It's hinted that its gonna happen, M/M, Rich Michael and Jake are mostly main characters in this, Rich and Jake aren't dating yet, Suicide Attempt, rich and michael become friends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-13
Updated: 2018-02-13
Packaged: 2019-03-17 22:53:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,361
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13668996
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/littlebigtec12/pseuds/littlebigtec12
Summary: Rich set a fire in Jake Dillinger's home, causing the whole house to catch fire and burn. But what got him to do it, and what happened after?





	Rich Set a Fire: Before and After

**Author's Note:**

> I really wanted to write something with Rich and Jake, since I don't write them a lot. So here it is. I wanted angst, but I also wanted happiness so. I don't know if this is happy but. Ay, I hope it's good.

Rich remembers the fire perfectly, so perfectly he can tell you who slept with who, and who left before it started. He can also tell you how it started, since he’s the one who did that. When he woke up in the hospital, he was shocked to find out he was still alive. He found out Jake Dillinger, his best friend, rushed inside and got him out, breaking both of his legs in the process. He’s got burns, but not as bad as Rich’s burns. Rich’s burns went down the left side of his body, and even goes all down his back. He can’t sleep well on his back anymore. 

The night went as planned, he arrived at the party, had some drinks, flirted with girls. It was all good, but then it went south. He remembers shouting and yelling, kids having fun. The Squip was telling his to go upstairs with a girl, but he didn’t want that. He found himself looking at Jake, who was flirting and talking with Christine. Everyone knew he liked her, but everyone also knew that he still had feelings for Chloe. Rich remembers downing a couple more shots, shaking he watches Jake dance with Christine. The drinking was bad, it was a terrible idea. Soon, his Squip was out of commission, leaving him alone. He walked upstairs alone, after he saw Jake disappear. He sits on the top step, looking down at the sea of teenagers drinking like it was the end of the world. He remembers yelling after that, mostly between Jeremy and Jake. Jeremy dashes past Rich, almost shoving him off, before ducking into the nearest bathroom. Jake forgets Jeremy, and Christine apparently, and gets dragged off by Chloe. Rich remembers holding his stomach, hating the feeling of knowing what they were doing. Why did it make him feel sick? He turns his head when he hears yelling coming from the bathroom. Sounds like Jeremy and someone else. Rich recognizes the voice as the taller boy’s best friend. What was his name? Michael?

“Loser.” He hears as Jeremy opens the door and walks out, walking past Rich again and back downstairs. Rich lifts down his Jason mask, tapping his foot. He digs into his pocket and takes out his matches, staring at them. At this time, Rich didn’t know that within the next hour, he was gonna set a fire starting in Jake’s room. He puts them back in his pocket, wishing he had a joint. 

He stands up, walking to the bathroom. He hears soft sobbing, causing him to reach for the doorknob. He pauses, thinking about what could happen if he did just barge in. But this is someone crying, he should help. He slowly opens the door, lifting his mask off his face. He finds an seemingly empty bathroom, but looks over at the bathtub. It’s curtain was drawn, so the sobbing person was in there. He slowly walks over, then pokes at the curtain loudly. The person sobbing goes quiet, but Rich can still hear the sniffling.

“Hey, are you ok?” Obviously he’s not, why did he ask that?

“Leave me alone.” The person says, voice sounding shaky. Rich sighs, sitting down next to the tub. 

“I heard Jeremy call you a loser, I bet that hurt.” Rich says, and the other person stays silent. “You’re his best friend right? The antisocial kid, with the headphones?”

“My name’s Michael.”

“Well hello Michael, I’m Rich.”

“You’re the guy who gave him the Squip. Who gave him that idea.” Michael pulls the curtain back, causing Rich to turn around and face him. “You made him hate me! He thinks that computer is helping, A friend’s brother went to a mental hospital because he tried to get it out!”

“I didn’t know.” Rich says softly, standing up.

_ Leave, now. _

Rich flinches when he hears the Squip. He brings a hand up, clenching it. 

“How do you shut it off, Rich?” Michael asks softly. Rich stares at him, studying the tear stained face, the black shirt with CREEPS on it. The cargo shorts and the white sneakers, and weed socks? “Rich, please. I know that thing is in your head too, but you don’t need it. You should learn that being yourself is fine.”

Rich stays quiet, pulling on the sleeves of his shirt. He feels a shock in his hands, flinching. He looks up at Michael, opening his mouth. He tries to form words, but finds that he can’t. He pulls on his hair, straightening his spine. He stares at the teen in front of him, who had a look of worry and fear on his face. 

“Mountain Dew Red.” Rich whispers, then looks up at Michael. “Do you have Mountain Dew Red?!”

Michael backs up, caught off guard with the yelling. He shakes his head. Rich takes deep breaths, but they quicken. He runs out of the bathroom, running past Jenna Rolan. He runs downstairs, pulling his hair still. He finds himself twitching a bit, pulling his shirt. 

“Do you have Mountain Dew Red?” He asks a girl, who just walks away from him. He turns to a boy to ask the same question.

“Come on, it’s like regular Mountain Dew, but red!” He yells, and more people walk past him, giving him weird looks. 

“Seriously who the fuck has Mountain Dew Red?!” He yells loudly, causing people to stare. He looked manic, and found himself hunching over. He gets a shock, flinching again. He runs off, hearing laughing coming from the couch. He stops, walking back. Who laughed at him?

“I’m sorry Jeremy.” He hears, and looks up to find Christine walking away from Jeremy, and the taller boy looking down. He doesn’t know what makes him do it, but he raises his arms and makes airplane noises as he heads to Jeremy. He makes the noise of an explosion, waving his arms like crazy. He lets out a giggle, and stands straight, not looking at the other boy.

“Do you have any Mountain Dew Red?” Rich asks, and hears Jeremy say something about ‘Squip’ and ‘drinking’. Before things start getting blurry. He takes a huge gasp when he feels his whole body being shocked, having his arms out in front of him. He walks away from Jeremy, reminding the other boy of a robot, yelling ‘warning’. He sees Jake as he walks toward the boys room, fixing his shirt. Rich feels his heart drop, when he sees Chloe fixing her clothes too. He runs into Jake’s room, shutting the door and locking it. He paces around, taking in the messy room. 

Jake’s never gonna like him back, Jake’s straight. Isn’t he straight? God, who knows. Rich sits on the bed, taking out the matches in his pocket. He takes one out, lighting it quickly. He watches the match burn, watching as it slowly reaches his finger. He lets out hiss as it burns his finger, letting it drop. He stomps it out quickly, but then stares at the pack in his hand. He looks around the room, hearing the music outside the room. He thinks about Jake and Chloe. Jake and Christine. He likes girls, why would he ever like him. Why would he fall for his best friend, who does that? Look at where that got Michael.

“No one’s gonna like you.” Rich tells himself, feeling tears fall slowly. “You’re pathetic. So pathetic that no one remembers you freshman year, everyone forgot about you. The real you. The boy with the lisp, the shortest in class, never could lift a weight.”

He stands up. 

“People are only gonna remember you after this. Forever. The boy who was one of the strongest in class, could lift Jake Dillinger, hell, I can do 100 one-handed pushups, something I could never do freshman year.” Rich takes out a match. “The boy who hated himself, the boy who was never enough for Jake DIllinger.”

He lights the match, holding it up. 

“The boy who dies by fire.” He softly sobs as he lights the rest of the pack, tossing it into a pile of clothes nearby. He watches it burn, sitting down on the bed. He lays down, swinging his legs a bit. He knows his Squip is probably going crazy inside his head, but the alcohol blocks it out. He closes his eyes, the smell of smoke causing him to cough. He softly sobs as the flames engulf the room.

 

Outside, the fire spreaded out to the hallway, causing the drunk teens to scatter quickly. The fire was spreading quickly, and some people were stuck in the basement. Jake, drunkenness contained, ran upstairs. He starts banging on doors, telling them to get out now. He sees the headphones kid, Jeremy’s friend, looking around frantically. Jake grabs him, pushing him to the stairs.

“Get out, there’s a fire!”

“Is Jeremy still here?!” The kid yells, and Jake just shakes his head.

“He left 5 minutes ago, before it started. Now go, get outta here!” Jake yells, watching as the kid dashes downstairs. He checks the rooms, finding them empty now. Must’ve left when he was talking to Jeremy’s friend. He heads back downstairs, seeing Chloe on the couch. The fire was moving up the stairs and into the living room. Jake picks her up, running outside quickly. He sees flashing lights, putting her down on the lawn. He looks around at the other teens, looking at each face. He remembers the people in the basement and rushes back inside, hearing people shouting his name. He ignores it as he jumps back into the flames, trying to open the door. He burns his hand, and instead resorts to kicking the door down. The teens down there screamed, crying from fear.

“Come on, hurry up!” He yells, and watches as the kids run past him and out the front door. He heads back outside, coughing. He collapses, letting the smoke in his lungs take it’s toll on his body. He looks around, looking for Rich. He knows the shorter boy came to the party, he hopes he got out. 

“Where’s Rich?” He asks Jenna Rolan, who came over to him. 

“I don’t know, I didn’t see him leave.” Jenna says. Fear overcomes Jake as he ignores his aching body, standing up and examining the crowd. 

“Rich!” He yells, running through the crowd. People pointing at the house when they heard him. He didn’t leave. He’s still in there. An officer grabs him, trying to pull him away. He pushes the officer harshly, running back inside. Jenna tries to grab him, and he recognizes the face of Dustin Kropp trying to grab him too. Both failed and watched as he was back inside the burning building. He ran over to the basement, yelling.

“Rich!” He yells, cupping his hands around his mouth. “Richie!”

He runs over to his door, bringing his coat down a bit to cover his hand. He tries to open the door, finding it locked. He backs up, throwing a kick. He cracks the door, coughing more. He wobbles a bit, finding himself getting dizzy. He takes off his coat, tossing it away. He brings up his shirt, covering his nose and mouth. He throws another kick, causing the door to break more. He still can’t get inside the room. He kicks again, thanking his door for finally breaking. He jumps inside the room, seeing the body on his bed. He rushes over, seeing the boy was unconscious, but coughing. He’s alive. Jake tries to pick up Rich, finding himself flinching. The bed was burning, which means Rich could be burning. He had to get out. Jake takes off his shirt, lifting Rich up. He turns Rich and lets the boy lean back on him. Jake bites his lip as Rich’s clothes started catching on fire. He wraps the shirt around his friends mouth and nose, hoping it would keep out the smoke. He coughs as he lifts Rich, letting out a yelp as he feels flames touch his skin. Rich is still unconscious, but he was burning. He wasn’t yelling, and he stopped coughing. Shit, what if he…

Jake quickly runs out of the room, hearing the wood above him start creaking and falling. He gets to the front door, but is made to stop when it gets blocked by burning wood. He coughs, looking around. He looks upstairs, thinking how bad it could be. He takes a deep breath, coughing harshly after, and runs upstairs. He screams as his body starts aching, feeling burns starting to stick. He runs into the bathroom quickly, closing the door. He looks around the room, finding it wasn’t burning. Not yet. Probably because there wasn’t much wood in there, but the fire was above him. He knows the ceiling could collapse any moment. He puts Rich down quickly, grabbing a towel and is about to toss it over the boy, when he notices the burns. Rich’s face and body was heavily burned, the clothes being torn apart by the flames he was once in. He looks down at his body, covered in ash and burns that were slowly getting worse. He tosses the towel over Rich, staring out the window. He opens it, then pulls back on the window. He grabs the curtain pole, pulling it down quickly. He hits the window, sending shards outside and landing on him. He flinches, but keeps hitting the window. He’s able to get it weak, pulling it down and tossing it into the bathtub. He clears away the glass, then takes the towel off Rich. He picks up the smaller boy bridal style, slowly, but carefully, stands on the ledge. He’s more standing there hunched over, looking down the two story building. 

He looks back, hearing creaking coming from the room. He sees it start to cave in and he takes him chance. He jumps, landing on his legs. He lands weirdly, which makes him scream from the pain he feels in his legs. He tries to stand up, but screams more when he can’t. He looks down, seeing the Rich didn’t hit the ground. Jake held him the whole way down. He slowly pushes Rich off of him, closing his eyes. He’s biting his lip, trying to scream anymore. His legs are in agonizing pain, and he feels the tears escape his eyes. He sobs loudly, turning his head to see officers running to them. The pain was too much, and eventually, it made him slowly pass out, the last thing he saw was Rich being taken care of. He smiled, slowly reaching out and grabbing Rich’s hand as he lost consciousness. 

 

When Rich woke up in the hospital, he found himself sobbing quietly when he realized he failed. He couldn’t cover his face, realizing he was in a full body cast. He feels bandages on his face, which causing him to let out more sobs. He turns his head, seeing the anti social headphones kid sleeping in a chair, holding a red bottle in his hand. Rich sniffles, then tries to wake up the other teen.

“Hey.” Rich says softly. The boy didn’t budge. Rich thinks for a second. Name. Name. What was his name? 

“Michael!” Rich yells, and this causes the boy to pick up his head quickly, pulling the bottled liquid close. He turns his head to face Rich, stretching a bit. 

“Hey. How you feeling?” Michael asks, taking his glasses off and rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

“Bad. How am I alive?”

“Jake saved you.” Michael said, then opens the bottle. “Also, I got you the Mountain Dew Red you were freaking out about. Didn’t know you liked 90s drinks.”

“I don’t, it’s just. Can you help me drink it?” Rich asks, and Michael nods. He stands over Rich, lifting the bottle to Rich’s lips. Rich slowly drinks the red liquid, nearly chugging it. As soon as Michael takes away the bottle, Rich starts shaking, eyes rolling back. Michael backs away quickly, grabbing the cap and closing the bottle. He grabs Rich’s hand, holding it as Rich starts sobbing again. He coughs, holding tightly onto Michael’s hand. Michael slowly sits next to Rich, still holding the smaller boy’s hand. 

“What happened?” Michael asked, and Rich just stays silent for a moment. He slowly leans his head on Michael’s shoulder. 

“I’m thorry about Jeremy.” Rich says, flinching when he hears his lisp. Michael notices the lisp, but doesn’t say anything. “I fucked up.”

“Everyone fucks up, it’s life.” Michael says, then turns his head to face Rich. “Is your Squip telling you to say that?”

“It’th gone.” Rich says, straining his neck to bury his face in Michael’s neck. The taller boy brings his hand up to Rich’s hair slowly, stroking it a bit. He remembers this working on Jeremy whenever he was having a breakdown, and always helped him calm down. Rich picks up his head, staring forward. He hears someone trying to open the door, hearing swearing after they failed. Michael gets up, fixing his messy hair as he walks over to the door. He opens the door, seeing a slightly aggravated Jake holding a teddy bear with his mouth. He was holding onto his crutches tightly. 

“Wanna come in?” Michael asks, and Jake nods. His expression softens as he enters the room, looking over at Rich. He gives the boy a soft smile, and Michael switches his attention back to Rich.

“Can you leave uth alone for a bit?” Rich asks Michael, who smiles and nods. He leaves the room, closing the door behind him. Jake quickly heads over to the bed, nearly tripping himself with his crutches. Both of his legs are in casts, and Rich immediately feels guilt. 

“I remember your lisp.” Jake says as he drops the teddy bear on the bed. He uses his crutches to turn the chair away from the bed, then puts them off to the side. He sits down in the chair, then turns his head to Rich. 

“You do?”

“Well of course, it was something I liked about you.” Jake grabs the teddy bear, pulling something out of his pocket. He was wearing basketball shorts with a tank top, which showed some scars from the fire. 

“I’m thorry.” Rich says quietly. Jake adjusts a heart shaped note into the teddy bears hands, then turns it around to show Rich. ‘ _ Get well soon! _ ’ was written on the note. Jake places the bear next to Rich, a small smile on his face. 

“There, so you’re never alone in here.” Jake says, letting out a small chuckle. 

“Why are you here?” Rich asks, causing Jake to lose his smile. He lets out a sigh, running a hand through his hair. 

“Honestly, I don’t know.” Jake looks at Rich’s hand, but keeps his hands away. “I should hate you. You set fire to my house.”

Rich looks away from Jake, not wanting to look his friend in the eye. 

“Why did you do it Rich?” Jake asks, turning to look at Rich again. “Why would you set fire to my room, m-my house?!” 

“I wanted to die.” Rich says quietly, and Jake loses his anger quickly. Rich bites his lip, trying not to cry again. “I thaw you with Chloe and Chrithtine, and I felt. Crappy. Then Michael yelled at me, thince it wath my fault Jeremy left him. It jutht ethcalated, and I just wanted to die. I had a pack of matcheth and lit it, and jutht let the flameth build. I hoped I would die, I wanted to die.”

Jake had tears slowly streaming down his face, and he watches as Rich did the same. The smaller boy was starting to breakdown in front of him. 

“I saved you because I couldn’t bare letting you die.” Jake says, and Rich looks at him. “You’re my best friend Rich, and. I couldn’t lose you.”

Jake grabs Rich’s hand, holding his hand softly. 

“You mean so much to me, and I’m sorry I wasn’t there sooner. I should’ve talked to you, I should’ve helped you. You could’ve died.” Jake sobs. “I should hate you for burning my house. For ruining my life, but at the same time. I’m thankful.”

Rich looks at Jake, trying to calm down. 

“My parents are on the run from the authorities, and just forget about me. I was left with an empty house, but I had great friends to keep me going.” Jake lets go of Rich’s hand. “But it was so fucking lonely in that huge house, I couldn’t handle the silence. So I threw parties, I drank and smoked my ass off. I slept with women I don’t even think I loved.” 

“What do you mean?” Rich asks, watching as Jake leaned closer. 

“What I mean, is that I never liked Chloe. I think I liked Christine, which is why I didn’t sleep with her. I wanted to, but sex isn’t everything in the relationship. I hurt her, I slept with Chloe. I fucking hate myself.” Jake takes a deep breath, trying to calm himself down. “I find myself falling for guys too, like Dustin. Hell, I even feel weird around fucking Jeremy. But… I felt the most weird around you.”

“Weird?”

“My heart skips a beat as soon as I see you, and everytime you laugh, I just wanna have it go on forever. Everytime you flex a muscle, I just have to go on and act like a bro, but honestly. It’s like this whole moment where I ponder if I should kiss you or let you fuck me over a table.” Jake said, causing both boys to let out small giggles around the end. Jake was hoping for that. “If I’m being honest, I really wanna kiss you right now. But, I’m also pretty mad at you. I’m having mixed emotions over this, you burned my house. I have to stay in a motel now, and it’s lonely.”

Rich sniffles, more calm than he was at the beginning of this conversation.

“I love you too, Jake. I find that. I like girlth and guyth. I feel weird thince I’ve been denying thith for yearth, but I know I want to be with you too.” Rich tells Jake, then looks toward his tall friend. “But I think we thhould hold off the relationthhip until the tenthion between uth ith over.”

Jake nods, smiling. 

“I would like that. You do need to earn my trust again.” Jake says, holding Rich’s hand again, squeezing it gently. He gets up slowly, grabbing his crutches. “Now, I have a play to star in. Can I come back later?”

“Yeah, be careful and good luck.” Rich said, and watches as Jake leaves the room.

 

Rich isn’t surprised to wake up with Michael in the room again, playing on a gameboy. He is surprised when he spots Jeremy lying in a bed. He was sleeping, and seemingly unharmed. 

“What happened?”

Michael doesn’t look away from the game he’s playing, a smile showing on his face. 

“We defeated the Squip.” Michael said, finding a stopping point and closing the portable game. 

“I know, that’th why my lithp ith back.” Rich said, but Michael shakes his head.

“No, I know that. Apparently, Jeremy’s Squip went over the top. It got Jeremy to go on and Squip the whole school, and everyone in the play was under the control of the Squip. Then, I swooped in and saved the day! I had to face Brooke, Chloe, Jenna, hell even Jake. It was crazy because he was using his legs, since the Squip took away the pain of his broken legs.” Rich wanted to break out of his cast when he listened to that last part, but he let Michael continue. “So, then Christine came out, and confessed her love for Jeremy under the control of the Squip. Then Jeremy fucked up the Squip by having Christine drink some Mountain Dew Red, then it went crazy and everyone just collapsed. And now we’re here.”

“Where’th Jake?” Rich asks, hoping he was ok.

“Oh, he got released an hour ago. He came by to check on you, but he left when he saw you were sleeping. He’s probably gonna come back.” Michael said, smiling. Rich smiled at the news of Jake being release, then looks down at him cast. He lets out a soft sigh, frowning. 

“I wish I could leave.” Rich said, then Michael got a wider smile.

“You know, the nurse told me you should be released tomorrow. You’re gonna have bandages still, and the cast comes off tonight.” Michael says, which causes Rich to smile again.

“Really?!”

“Yeah, congrats dude! You are soon gonna be a free man, in a very handsomely, tall guy’s arms.” Michael says, causing Rich to blush. “I know you and Jake are hella gay for each other, the gaydar goes crazy around you two.”

Rich lets out a small chuckle, shaking his head.

“We know we like each other, but we’re gonna wait on it. I did burn down hith houthe.” Rich said. “But, I hope it happenth thoon.” 

“I hope so too, honestly got sick of the ‘no homo’ stuff. I already hear enough of that from Jeremy.” Michael said as he stands up. He turns around, facing Jeremy. The boy was still sleeping, so Michael slowly walks over and rubs a hand down Jeremy’s side softly.

“What’re you doing?” Rich asks, tilting his head a bit as he watches Michael. 

“Checking something.” Michael says, finding what he was looking for. He moves his body over to the side, blocking Rich’s view. He lifts Jeremy’s shirt, up till he sees the binder. He moves his hands over to the clips, undoing them. He smiles weakly as he pulls the shirt back down, putting the hospital blanket over the sleeping teen. “My deed is done, now I’m starving.” 

Michael walks over to the door, opening it but pausing. He looks over at Rich. 

“I’ll be back in 20 minutes, if he wakes up, tell him I’ll be back.” Michael flashes a smile as he walks out of the room. 

Rich is left alone to his devices, which means sitting there and doing nothing for absolutely 20 minutes. Well. 15 minutes.

Jeremy sits up quickly, letting out a small yelp. He looks around, bring his hands up to his face. He feels it, then runs hands down his torso. He feels the binder is lose, about to take off his shirt when he hears a voice next to him.

“Feelth good, don’t it? Being free?” Rich says, and Jeremy crosses his arms over his chest. He stares silently at Rich, not knowing what to say to that. “I’ll look away if you want.”

Jeremy nods, bringing a hand up to his head. He turns away from Rich, pulling up his shirt to clip on his binder. Rich stares forward, staring at his feet. He hears a small groan from Jeremy, turning to look at him again. The boy was holding his head, laying back down on his bed. 

“Hey, what’th everyone saying about me?” Rich asks, but Jeremy doesn’t answer. He just glances at Rich, playing with his fingers. “That bad?”

“Y-You got rid of your S-Squip? How?” Jeremy asks.

“Your buddy, Michael. He’th been around a lot lately. Ith he like. Your boyfriend or thomething?” Rich said, and Jeremy finds himself looking away from Rich, covering his face with the blanket. “It’th ok. I’m finding that I like guys too.”

Jeremy pulls the blanket down a bit, turning on his side to face Rich. 

“You’re bi?”

“Yeth thir, now the ladieth are gonna get to know the real me. Along with the dudeth.” Rich says, showing a smile. Jeremy flashes a smile too. Then the door opens. 

Throughout the next hour, the boys talk, with Michael now with them. Jeremy’s dad soon enters the room and has a small conversation with Jeremy, which left Jeremy happy with tears. Which felt odd to Rich since Jeremy was told he was being grounded. Eventually, Rich was left alone again. Well, not totally alone. After Jeremy left with his father, Michael stayed with Rich. Michael was there when they took off the cast, watching as they put bandages over the burns. Rich looked down at himself, sitting on the bed with only boxers on his person. He lifts up his left hand, completely covered in bandages, and sighs. 

“You look like a fighter.” Michael says, mostly to break the silence.

“What?” Rich said as he lowered his hand. 

“I’ve been playing video games all my life, and dude. You look like you could be a character in Street Fighter, or even a white version of Little Mac. But that’s just my opinion.”

Rich lets out a small chuckle, standing up slowly. He wobbles a bit, causing Michael to rush to his side. He puts his good arm around Michael, leaning against the taller boy. 

“Thith ith gay.” Rich says, and Michael laughs.

“I’m gay.” Michael said back, causing both boys to laugh. Rich lets go of Michael, limping a bit as he walks over to his door. He’s still wobbling, but he’s holding out his hands now. He walks back to Michael, who’s smiling.

“Thee, I can walk. I jutht wath ruthty.” Rich said, wincing at his lisp. He knows he’s been using it more, since the Squip is gone, but it’s still odd to him. He hasn’t used it in almost 2 years.

Michael hands Rich the clothes he got from the smaller boy’s home. Rich had asked Michael to go get his clothes, since Jake was hurt and probably shouldn’t go through all that trouble. Once Rich was clothed, he walks into the bathroom to see himself in the mirror. He looked crappy. He was wearing one of his muscle shirts, which used to give him confidence. Now, just made him hate himself more. He stares at his bandaged, left hand. He lifts his shirt, staring at the bandages wrapping around his torso. He was wearing pants, but under that was more bandages. He looked up into his eyes, his face. A part of his face had a bandage on it, causing him to flinch. He walked out, looking down. When he walks out, Jake is there with Michael. The taller boy smiles at Rich, moving over to him. 

“Hey, look who’s leaving finally!” Jake says, and Rich just shrugs. Jake loses his smile, leaning forward a bit. “You ok?”

“I look like a freak.” Rich said, holding up his hand a bit. “I hate it. Everyone is gonna thtare at me.”

Rich just stands there, grabbing his shirt. Jake, who was wearing his letterman jacket, takes it off, with the help of Michael. He nods at Michael, who drapes the jacket over Rich’s shoulders. Rich looks up at Jake, who smiles. 

“Just wear that till you feel better.” Jake tells him. “I know it’s gonna take a while to get comfortable again, with the burns and all. So, take your time.”

“I’ll give it back tomorrow.” Rich said, looking up at Jake. 

“No, keep it till you feel better.” Jake said, turning towards the door. Michael smiles at Rich, then turns away and walking towards the door. He holds it open, waiting. 

“You thure?”

“Yeah, positive. Until you learn to love your scars, and yourself again.” Jake said, turning back to Rich. “I’m gonna help you love yourself again, but in the meantime. You can’t be uncomfortable going out. So, hold onto it.”

Rich shows a small smile as he walks toward Jake. He pauses for a second, then wraps his arms around Jakes torso, hugging the taller boy. Jake stood there, slowly wrapping an arm around Rich, careful with his crutches. Michael runs a hand through his hair, feeling awkward in the moment, paying attention to his sneakers. He raises his head when Jake and Rich let go of eachother, then leave the room together. Michael looks around the room one more time, then walks out, leaving the door open on his way out. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! I've been Hella busy lately, I'm in my school's musical, which is Little Shop of Horrors so lots of excitement! I hope to get more stuff up soon, but opening night is in 2 weeks so maybe not. I'll try. I've been working hard on a sequel for "Where There's Superheros...". Ok, that's a lie, I just started it and like I said. Busy busy boy I am. Anyway, hope to see y'all soon.
> 
> Have a good night/day


End file.
